Egyptian daily deals site Waffarha confident amidst uncertainty

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The recent shutdown of Dare’n’Deal, Egypt’s most popular website
for daily deals and group buying, sparked much curiosity about
whether the global fall of the once hugely popular daily deals
model would be reflected in the Egyptian market.

Despite this uncertainty, Waffarha’s founders Tarek Magdi
and Noha Hamdi are confident that their site has what it takes to
weather the storm. Their team comprises ten people, working on
sales, marketing, customer service, photography, content, and tech
support. The website was launched in October 2012 by Magdi who
studied marketing and Hamdi who studied journalism, when they
registered some complaints by daily deals buyers in using the
deals, including bad service and difficulties getting the deal
refunded if necessary. Their startup, they decided, would offer
customers the chance to directly file a complaint to get
refunded.

Waffarha doesn’t monopolize traders’ offers; outlets can also
sell coupons on other websites. But the website offers two features
that stores and restaurants won’t find on other daily deals
websites, according to Hamdi. First, Waffarha organizes a new photo
shoot for each product, rather than using tired old photos of
varying quality. The second is that the payment method, whether
cash or checks or a bank deposit, is organized at the convenience
of the trader.

Their startup also offers different products and services,
atypical ones compared to other daily deals websites, such as
mattresses, gold cleaning, HD receivers as well as the garden
variety restaurant, spa, and travel deals. As with many deals
sites, all deals give a discount of at least 50%.

Hamdi wasn’t upset by the shutdown of Dare'n'Deal, even though
it has shaken market confidence in the model. She added: “We don’t
think about competition. Our main concern is the quality. We might
not be as strong as [other] companies but we will prove our
position in the market.” Deals in restaurants and stores in the
popular malls in new cities like October 5th and
6th are the best selling of all their offers; these are
popular with clients both young and old.

Regarding the site’s performance amid the turbulent political
atmosphere, “There are ups and downs. We covered our expenses and
made profits,” Hamdi says, citing a moment during last Ramadan when
Waffarha managed to sell 300 coupons to a restaurant in two days.
“But now, once again,” she continues, “we’re supporting our
business from our savings.”

Waffarha doesn’t aim to expand on the regional level – at least
not yet. That’s why the site’s name is purely Egyptian
(waffarha means ‘save it’ in English). What expansion
plans there are focus on other provinces in Egypt, starting with
the city of Alexandria.

The company is expected to launch a new website in the first
quarter of 2014, limited to products with discounts up to 50%. Noha
believes that products offered on the new website won’t be impacted
by the political situation. After all, daily deals phenomenon
Groupon came into global popular consciousness during the recession
of 2008; there’s no reason why Waffarha shouldn’t do the same in
Egypt.